2009 Hyundai Genesis V6: 3-2-1 Contact

I like parking sensors a lot and trust them more than back-up cameras.

With the back-up camera, the view is distorted and it's difficult to get a true sense of an object's range -- is that thing I might hit near? Or far?

The proper way to use the back-up camera is to first verify that there is nothing under your bumper (like sleeping children), then proceed to look out the back
window. As pretty as it looks, you're not supposed to stare at the display screen during the reverse maneuver.

But with parking sensors, you just go about normal backing-up. And when you're about to nail something, you are warned -- then you FREEZE. Now you can check
the display and re-check your surroundings.

The Genesis system has a nice display with 3 lines around the front or rear bumpers that appear then decrease to 3-2-1 lines as you get closer to your object of
non-desire.

There is also an auditory alert that beeps with increasing frequency until it is constant-on, signaling impending doom.

It works great. That is, when it's On.

You see, the Genesis system is defeatable, as I unfortunately found out last weekend. I didn't notice the sensors were off until afterwards. Apparently, another Edmunds staffer found the system annoying and defeated it with the switch near the driver's knee.

Yeah, the Genesis parking sensors (4 front, 4 rear) will alert on pedestrians too, but even still, I always like to have the system on. Just in case.

Here's the thing: drivers are not infallible. Whether they work at Edmunds or not.And we care about our cars, just like you. Some of us operate in an urban jungle with a lot of hazards, driving many miles.

And like you -- we're human: we make mistakes, we are sometimes careless, we are sometimes tired, and we even "look but don't see".

So as long as we don't rely on parking sensors without regard to common sense, technologies like these can be helpful to alert even experienced drivers.

Now if you will excuse us -- we have to schedule that appointment with the body shop.